Management Discussion | You-vin, we All-vin!

[Bubbles]

The canucks had top 10 picks in 2008, 2013, 2014, and eight 1st round picks between 2008 - 2014.

The Aves built an elite core (wasn’t until Makar was drafted in 2017 that they finished assembling that core), but the final pieces required an astute GM and excellent asset management, such as acquiring Toews, Byram, Girard, Kuemper, Lehkonen, Nuke, etc.

Hopefully we can follow a similar trajectory now that we have competent management. See my avatar

The difference is that Colorado had a 1st, 2nd, and two 4th overalls. There's always tiers in the draft, and the Canucks are always in the lower tier.

I get the impression there isn't a rebuild coming. More of a retool on the fly deal. But I'll be patient and see what they do this offseason.

 

[Vector]

The difference is that Colorado had a 1st, 2nd, and two 4th overalls. There's always tiers in the draft, and the Canucks are always in the lower tier.

I get the impression there isn't a rebuild coming. More of a retool on the fly deal. But I'll be patient and see what they do this offseason.

Unless something changes, and it always can, I think they plan for the upcoming season to end up with the same result as this one; remain competitive and play meaningful games. The goal of the season will be to evaluate talent, integrate system and new players, improve weaknesses of certain players, and set up the following season for success.

That way they can justifiable claim they didn’t take a step back, are happy with the progress they’ve made throughout the season, and are excited to further bolster the roster and feel big things will happen in the following season. Then the internal goal would be to push for playoff consistency and a series win.

 

[Bubbles]

Unless something changes, and it always can, I think they plan for the upcoming season to end up with the same result as this one; remain competitive and play meaningful games. The goal of the season will be to evaluate talent, integrate system and new players, improve weaknesses of certain players, and set up the following season for success.

That way they can justifiable claim they didn’t take a step back, are happy with the progress they’ve made throughout the season, and are excited to further bolster the roster and feel big things will happen in the following season. Then the internal goal would be to push for playoff consistency and a series win.

I've always been on the strip it to the studs rebuild, but clearly that's not happening in this market with this owner.

I can hope he can pull off a Zito like retool, where he kept the majority of the core and made some astute trades to establish a top team. But it helps if you have legit superstars in your team. I tend to agree with Allvin that we don't have any superstars on the team.

I guess I'm jealous of what the Habs are doing. They are basically at the same stage we are but they've clearly declared a rebuild and aren't interested in just "making" the playoffs and see.

 

[mriswith]

I've been hesitant to rank Sakic among the best in the league because I think he's mostly ridden amazing luck that fell into his lap in the Mackinnon contract and getting massive ELC value from Makar and Byram. I think he's been too conservative in the past with his trades and too gunshy to take full advantage of the amazing contract luck he's had.

But to his credit the Toews trade was a home run and most importantly - he didn't screw up the great situation he found himself in. We should have had at least two years of what Colorado has had for several years when we had all our stars on ELC's and our goalies on near elc contracts but unlike Sakic, Benning majorly screwed up.

I don't think we will get a rebuild even though I think it is 100% by far the best move. But rebuilding is a losing move as a GM, most of the time you get sacked right when the team is about to turn the corner and the next guy either ruins your work or gets all the credit. This upcoming season is the intentional low point and we'll be trying to build upwards after that, the only question is how much are we willing to sell off.

 

[Tomatoes11]

3rd. Hughes.

Yeah I guess 3rd but Hughes was 7th and dropped because of his size plus zadina falling and Dahlin was the prize that draft. If we had first dibs we would have picked Dahlin. Which one day we might argue would have been the wrong pick like juolevi all over again but we would have drafted Dahlin.

I was referring more if we got first dibs again and got another top 5 and chance at the first defender. Cam barker was 3rd overall but I can’t recall if he was the top D prospect of that draft or not.

So if juolevi was our first dibs on a defender fail I hope to god Jirecek or nemec will be the right choice if we had first dibs again. It took Chicago a lot of tries but didn’t get their cup defenders until 14th overall and second round.

Or we can hope rathbone takes a huge jump and becomes Byram or Adam fox light. Then we don’t even need to draft another one. Lol

 

[Tomatoes11]

I've been hesitant to rank Sakic among the best in the league because I think he's mostly ridden amazing luck that fell into his lap in the Mackinnon contract and getting massive ELC value from Makar and Byram. I think he's been too conservative in the past with his trades and too gunshy to take full advantage of the amazing contract luck he's had.

But to his credit the Toews trade was a home run and most importantly - he didn't screw up the great situation he found himself in. We should have had at least two years of what Colorado has had for several years when we had all our stars on ELC's and our goalies on near elc contracts but unlike Sakic, Benning majorly screwed up.

I don't think we will get a rebuild even though I think it is 100% by far the best move. But rebuilding is a losing move as a GM, most of the time you get sacked right when the team is about to turn the corner and the next guy either ruins your work or gets all the credit. This upcoming season is the intentional low point and we'll be trying to build upwards after that, the only question is how much are we willing to sell off.

Conservative is always the best play. Always. You just need the rope from ownership like Tampa and Colorado.. Gms only make bad moves when they are rushed for results and start taking short cuts to speed up the process.

Unfortunately for us, dim was the worse of all worlds. Had all the rope in the world, yet still rushed and took stupid short cuts all over but he had 8 years. Lol nonis only had what? 3? And he got us luongo and lost his job for not trading Kesler and Schneider for brad Richards. Conservative. Always. Just rebuild and hoard until you are 100% sure you should go all in. Or 99.9999999999% sure if you aren’t 100%. Basically like Colorado and Tampa. The last 3 champs. Lol

 

[CanucksSayEh]

Sometimes you have to have faith in your players. Avs and Tampa both missed the playoffs at a point during their prime years.

Pre LA cup, should have been good, but were underperforming. Their top guys were still in their mid 20's. They loaded up at a time where missing the PO was a real possibility. Then beat a 1st place team that hadn't recovered from the year before and had injury issues after the deadline.

The next 2 years is a good time to make the playoffs, Avs and Alberta likely to take a step back.

 

[RandV]

I suspect there must have been an "intangibles" type thing with Hickey given that he was later named captain of the Canadian WJC team.

If I recall correctly I think it was his skating. With the faster cap era in hand and the clutch & grab dead puck era behind them some teams thought size no longer mattered and smooth skating dmen would be the future. I think Ottawa used the same reason to take Brian Lee ahead of Bourdon and Kopitar a draft or two before.

 

[Hit the post]

Conservative is always the best play. Always. You just need the rope from ownership like Tampa and Colorado.. Gms only make bad moves when they are rushed for results and start taking short cuts to speed up the process.

Unfortunately for us, dim was the worse of all worlds. Had all the rope in the world, yet still rushed and took stupid short cuts all over but he had 8 years. Lol nonis only had what? 3? And he got us luongo and lost his job for not trading Kesler and Schneider for brad Richards. Conservative. Always. Just rebuild and hoard until you are 100% sure you should go all in. Or 99.9999999999% sure if you aren’t 100%. Basically like Colorado and Tampa. The last 3 champs. Lol

Nonis was also able to hire us a head coach in those 3 to 4 years that eventually won the Jack Adams trophy *for us*. Benning took 7+ years to hire Willie D & Travis Green (Dumb & Dumber).

 

[DS7]

The next 10 days should be pretty interesting and could shape the team for years to come. I'm curious to see what this new management team does.

I'd be impressed if there was any meaningful maneuvering within the cap crunch Benning put us in. Took another look at Cap Friendly. Benning basically gave Arizona $12-17 million in cap space and paid them a top ten pick and a 2nd to do so.

 

[mathonwy]

It was also when Linden FINALLY started to see the light and realized they weren’t doing things properly. He started asking questions around the league, decided they needed to change gears and got forced out a year later.

Yup.

It's why the Sedins bailed.

It's why Edler bailed.

It's why Schmidt bailed.

 

[Tomatoes11]

Yup.

It's why the Sedins bailed.

It's why Edler bailed.

It's why Schmidt bailed.

Edler and tanev had the worst roles here. The head/captains of the collapse right away with no forechecking pressure and block shots/get caved in your own zone brigade that was the cog of a Travis Green team. Tanev got hurt constantly for it too. Lol I guess marky and demko were part of that group too considering how much rubber they faced and how much green relied on them.

I am shocked that Edler didn’t leave sooner.

 

[theguardianII]

The bandaid will be ripped off.

It is logical to do it now in the first year.

There will be many players moved IMO.

Cap control will be re-established in one off season.

It only makes sense not only from a marketing and business position. Get all the bad stuff done at once and blame the previous regime for the necessity. I don't think this group would try to do the Jimmy thing by letting the blame hang out on Gillis for 7 or 8 years, even though they could for 3 years easily.

Think of it like what political parties do, right at the beginning do the bad cr@p early and let time forget it later.

It is too bad that this draft class and the next are not that deep but still, rubies are found in mud.

I would not be surprised if
Pearson, Garland, Miller, Boeser and maybe even Horvat are gone, one big step back, like Tampa and Colorado and Pitts and ???

 

[Buresflyingelbow]

I’m just happy that new management has acknowledged that our RHD situation needs to be addressed. That gives me hope as the keys to asset management are RHD and the Center positions. They hold the most value in trade and you don’t get them without drafting them yourselves or paying a premium.

 

[theguardianII]

I’m just happy that new management has acknowledged that our RHD situation needs to be addressed. That gives me hope as the keys to asset management are RHD and the Center positions. They hold the most value in trade and you don’t get them without drafting them yourselves or paying a premium.

That is why I really hope they over pay if needed to go after Dobson or Dahlin

 

[MS]

That is why I really hope they over pay if needed to go after Dobson or Dahlin

I will fall over in shock if either of those players is traded this summer.

 

[Tomatoes11]

That is why I really hope they over pay if needed to go after Dobson or Dahlin

I think the Dobson ship has sailed after they moved Leddy and Toews. Man isles had a stacked D once.

Dahlin is untouchable or should be and so is power.

But if we can get power, dobson, or dahlin I would be so happy. I would pop open a bottle of wine and I don’t even drink. Lol

 

[timw33]

You can see the veiled shots at the old guard once again here.

Harvey "They have new vision/direction for us, lots of good advice that we're taking well, and they are going to let us do our jobs"

Allvin seems to actually...manage his group and understands the role of GM.

 

[theguardianII]

I think the Dobson ship has sailed after they moved Leddy and Toews. Man isles had a stacked D once.

Dahlin is untouchable or should be and so is power.

But if we can get power, dobson, or dahlin I would be so happy. I would pop open a bottle of wine and I don’t even drink. Lol

My conversation with either GM would be; "What will it take?" And then I would sell them on the instant improvement and playoff window opening.

Championship teams are built from the back out but if the team has a stout defence a little above average goalie can win.
The old Vancouver Canucks under Crawford had good but not outstanding goalies but the defence was maybe close to the best in the league when healthy. Even the backup goalies won more than 30 games a season when pushed to play.

Of course there is Detroit and now Colorado that have gone the distance with good goaltending but very good defence.

 

[Angry Little Elf]

You can see the veiled shots at the old guard once again here.

Harvey "They have new vision/direction for us, lots of good advice that we're taking well, and they are going to let us do our jobs"

Allvin seems to actually...manage his group and understands the role of GM.

This video was a breath of fresh air. Allvin seems like a smart guy.

 

[Vector]

This video was a breath of fresh air. Allvin seems like a smart guy.

I watched it a few hours ago and came away pretty impressed. Obviously it’s a PR video so it’s goal is to show the team in the best possible light but previous management still managed to bungle that.

 

[AppleHoneySauce]

Anyone know who that first guy they were interviewing was? Looked like Cale makar kinda?

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

I watched it a few hours ago and came away pretty impressed. Obviously it’s a PR video so it’s goal is to show the team in the best possible light but previous management still managed to bungle that.

Honestly, I've watched these types of videos (manufactured for fan consumption) from Gillis to Benning, and a bunch of other teams around the league doing their pre draft schtick...

Thay all look exactly the same to me.....this one looks no different.

 

[VanillaCoke]

One thing that stood out is delorme is extremely involved and seemed to me extremely unneeded.

 

[Vector]

One thing that stood out is delorme is extremely involved and seemed to me extremely unneeded.

He was certainly very present. How much say or influence he actually has is yet to be determined.